Thought from today’s Bible reading from Deuteronomy 11-13.
Yesterday we noticed a warning about forgetting God in the midst of prosperity. Today we see another warning to the Israelites, but this one has to do with their worship to God.
“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
“Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it” (Deuteronomy 12:29-32, ESV).
Though the other nations would be driven out of the land, there was a danger in being too curious about what they did in their worship to their gods. Curiosity is not bad in itself. But the warning to the Israelites was about learning their ways so that they could do the same in their worship to the Lord. God gave them a pattern to follow and they were not to borrow anything from the worship practices of these other nations.
A similar warning could be offered to Christians today. Do not seek to learn and emulate the practices of the denominational world. There are so many things that the denominations practice and use (instrumental music, women preachers, youth camps, choirs, plays, etc.) that are in no way authorized in the New Testament (cf. Colossians 3:17; 2 Timothy 1:13). To learn their ways and follow their example would be a violation of God’s instructions for His people, just as it would have been for the Israelites.
There is nothing wrong with learning and being aware of what others do. But we must not be seeking to mimic them. We must seek to follow the New Testament pattern.
Tomorrow’s reading: Deuteronomy 14-16
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
